This study focuses on two questions :

In order to find solutions to these questions, the situation at four medium-sized and large train stations has been analysed extensively. The train stations concerned were Leiden, Haarlem, Eindhoven and Nijmegen.

The major conclusions are:
In the short term the capacity problems at three of the four sites investigated can be solved to a large extent by making better use of the available bicycle parking capacity. This may be done in three ways: 

In order to meet the increase over the next few years, a considerable expansion in capacity will most likely be necessary. The survey moreover emphasises that a favourable location of (new) facilities with regards to approach routes and station is a decisive factor for successful use.
Parking behaviour of cyclists is strongly affected by parking pressure. The number of illegally parked bicycles clearly increases as the number of available racks decreases over the course of the morning. Most people parking their bicycles illegally attempt to do this in a more or less orderly way. As shortages increase, so does the number of illegally parked bicycles that are seriously obnoxious. The best way to reduce this is therefore lowering the parking pressure. These conclusions are based on different studies that are presented in the various chapters.

Developments 
Chapter 3 describes the developments over the past few years. All four train stations display on the whole similar developments as the other medium-sized and large train stations in the Netherlands (see also Fietsberaad publication nr. 12). Over the period 2002-2005 bicycle use to train stations has grown considerably. On the one hand because train use has been on the rise since 2003. In addition many travellers have exchanged the bus for their bicycle as a means of transport to the train station. The increase in bicycle use translates into a greater demand for unguarded bicycle parking spaces in particular. Guarded bicycle parking has hardly taken benefited from the bicycle’s increased popularity.
The degree to which these developments occur, does vary by station. In Haarlem the changeover from bus (-28%) to bicycle (+50%) is much greater, thereby tremendously increasing the demand for unguarded parking facilities as well (>50%) over three years.

Guarded and unguarded
Chapter 4 describes occupancy rates over a working day for both guarded and unguarded parkings. The ratio guarded/unguarded turns out to be extremely out of balance. At representative peak hours an average of 42 per cent of spaces in the guarded parking facility is unoccupied. These are hundreds of guarded spaces per train station.
At the very same time there is a shortage of unguarded parking in public space of approximately 37 per cent (over 1.300 spaces per train station). Better use of the guarded parking facilities would therefore considerably decrease parking problems. In the guarded parking facilities of Eindhoven and Leiden a lot of spare capacity is available, both during the day and at night. Marketing efforts should therefore be directed both towards train passengers using their bicycles to get to the station (daytime) and to those using their bicycles to reach their destination from the station. In Haarlem and Nijmegen lack of occupancy is much greater at night than in the daytime, making people cycling to their destination an interesting target group.
Despite high parking pressures at the unguarded parking facilities not all available parking spaces are being used. Not even in Haarlem, which has extreme parking pressures. There is a clear relation with the distance to the station entrance, in combination with the location as regards the approach route and the presence of barriers between parking facilities and the station entrance. The choice of parking location is a matter of habit. This type of routine behaviour may only be changed with robust measures. In the short term parking behaviour may be changed, but this will require permanent attention from the station area management from then on. Enduring alternatives for the medium to long range are relocation of parking facilities to more favourable sites, adaptation of the approach routes or construction of new platform entrances.

Parking behaviour
Chapter 5 provides the results of two studies into parking behaviour. Counting parked bicycles reveals that the number of illegally parked bicycles strongly increases when over eighty per cent of racks in the station area is occupied. In that case people will park their bicycles near or in-between the racks. The number of illegally parked bicycles is more or less constant over the day, except for Haarlem. Here parking pressures are so high that illegal parking is widespread. Early in the morning, however, there are enough free racks to accommodate all illegally parked bicycles. It is recommended to remove the illegally parked bicycles at more or less regular intervals in the early morning to empty racks at locations that are insufficiently used during the day.
Behavioural observations demonstrate that cyclists have to search ever longer for a free space over the course of the morning. At the same time people park their bicycles ever closer to the train station over the course of the morning. This may be explained by the fact that cyclists walk towards the train station in search of a space if there is no room at the intended location. To prevent this, cyclists should receive information early on in their approach route about the number of available spaces.
The behavioural observations also reveal that parking pressure greatly affects the number of cyclists parking at a location and causing serious nuisance. A structural solution for preventing nuisance by illegally parked bicycles is to create sufficient parking facilities at acceptable locations. Moreover, in order to keep parking discipline high, it will be necessary to remove illegally parked bicycles causing obstruction and danger.

Length of parking
The study into length of parking presented in chapter 6 demonstrates that less than half of all bicycles in the unguarded parking facility are collected within 24 hours. Approximately a quarter of all bicycles is parked for several days or even longer. These are mainly bicycles used to reach the final destination. Due to their extended stay these bicycles weigh relatively heavily on the capacity of the unguarded parking facility. Measures that might entice this group of cyclists to use the guarded parking facility are therefore relatively effective in relieving capacity problems in the unguarded parkings.
Approximately a fifth of all parked bicycles concerns abandoned bicycles that will never be collected. The available capacity can be considerably increased by regularly removing these abandoned bicycles. Experiences in Haarlem demonstrate on the one hand that even after removal the number of abandoned bicycles will grow quickly and on the other hand that a meticulous approach is necessary to detect all abandoned bicycles.

Survey
Finally the users of the unguarded parking facilities themselves are questioned (chapter 7). This reveals, among other things, that: